If you, or any public-spirited programmer, wanted to figure out what the software on your machine is really doing, tough luck. It's illegal to reverse engineer the source code of commercial software to find out how it works.

Proprietary software keeps users divided and helpless. Divided because each user is forbidden to redistribute it to others, and helpless because the users can't change it since they don't have the source code. They can't study what it really does. So the proprietary program is a system of unjust power.

Open source production has shown us that world-class software, like Linux and Mozilla, can be created with neither the bureaucratic structure of the firm nor the incentives of the marketplace as we've known them.

'Creative Commons' is the self-congratulatory name of a self-congratulatory movement. Somewhat like kibbutz on the Internet, the idea is to write programs - 'free ware' - and distribute them without charge.

Learning Opportunities

The home of the Online, Interactive Textbook

The textbook is the cornerstone of modern learning. The textbook is the place you go to find information that you can rely on - that has been checked to be accurate and relevant (you can not say the same for the information you find on the internet).

The biggest problem with the textbook is that it is a book.

The internet has made us used to interacting with our information and also to finding it as we need it - and finding it in digestable chunks. We often have our digital devices with us. We do not carry our textbooks around with us as often.

Here at Learning Opportunities we believe that it is time the textbook made the move into the internet age. Not in the compromising e-book format but as a truly interactive set of web pages.

So we made it happen - starting with Grade 10 IT Theory…

Now you can not only have your textbook with you any place (or way) that you can access the internet but also find the information you need quickly - and leverage quizzes to maximise your learning!

See when each learner logs in, how long they are logged in and which modules they access.

Quickly see visual progress bars for all their learners.

See when each learner takes a quiz - and if the quiz is for marks access the mark attained by the learner.

See each learner's achievements in a markbook which includes all graded activities.

Export marks for their own markbooks.

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The BEST way to Learn

The heart and soul of learning is your involvement. Learning is not passive. It does not just happen. You have to work at it - you have to DO something.

Reading and watching videos (and we've scoured YouTube for lots of those, making sure that they are relevant to the course) is simply not enough.

Research has proven that the best way to learn is not making notes or summaries or mind maps or highlighting text. None of the traditional ways that you are told to 'study' really helps you to learn the content of your subject.

Many thorough, carefully conducted experiments have shown that the only guaranteed way to learn is to answer questions. To take quizzes.

In fact, you should even take a quiz before you start new work - even if you fail it on your ……! Taking quizzes really does make a difference - especially if you get immediate feedback.

So, to help you learn more effectively we have stuffed many, many quizzes (with immediate feedback) into this online textbook.

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Pricing

All Learning Opportunities online textbooks are Subscription based - and the subsription runs from the date of your enrolment to the end of the current calendar year (so an earlier enrolment gives the most benefit).

Subscriptions are ZAR 250.00 per user per textbook.

Teacher subscriptions are ZAR 350.00 per teacher.

Schools qualify for a 20% discount on groups of 25 or larger - and each group of 25 qualifies for one free teacher subscription.

Individual learners

Subscribe using the payfast gateway in the Textbook management system (create an account or login and then select the textbook you wish to subscribe to).

Teachers

You can only get teacher access by subscribing through a school along with the group of learners you wish to monitor.

Schools

Send an email to admin@learningopportunities.co.za specifying the number or learner / teacher subscription required. We will send you an invoice and an Excel subscription sheet for you to specify the learner details.

Learning Opportunities is the brainchild of Chris Noome - arising from his involvement with Study Opportunities (thanks to Sandra Jacobs for the suggestion of the name).

Chris Noome taught IT from 1991 to 2010. He has served as examiner for both the IEB and the DOE as well as moderator for the IEB. He is one of the Study Opportunities team of authors for their well known and much used series of IT and CAT textbooks (since 1995).